Speeches By EPA Administrator

In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and with winter soon approaching, energy is on everyone's mind.

Americans want to know what they can do personally to preserve the nation’s energy resources, help the hurricane recovery effort, and save money.

President Bush has called on the American people to do their part by conserving fuels and ensuring that the areas hit hardest by Katrina and Rita have the energy supplies they need for relief and restoration efforts.

The President has also directed the federal government to take the lead in conserving energy.

Today, I am proud to launch ENERGY STAR’s annual “Change a Light, Change the World” campaign, and for the first time proclaim today, ENERGY STAR’s “Change a Light Day” -- reminding us that an individual action made by every American can produce significant results.

A simple change we all can make is to choose lighting that is energy-efficient.

I have 100 light bulbs on each side of me. Each represents the 100-million American households.On my left are 100 incandescent bulbs, just like ones you might find in your home. It takes about six-thousand watts of electricity to run these one-hundred bulbs.

On my right are one-hundred ENERGY STAR qualified bulbs. It takes only about fourteen-hundred watts of electricity to run the ENERGY STAR bulbs.

So if each of the one-hundred-million homeowners changed just one light to an ENERGY STAR-qualified bulb, as a country we will save six hundred million dollars from our energy bills, prevent emissions equivalent to one million cars, and save enough energy to light seven million homes.

A small change that produces big results.

There is no one solution to conserving energy.

Changing one light in your home is just one of a number of small, common-sense individual actions, that when made by all Americans, can produce significant combined results for our economic and our environmental well-being.

Lighting accounts for nearly twenty percent of a homeowner’s energy costs, with the average home containing more than thirty light fixtures.

ENERGY STAR-qualified bulbs and fixtures use two-thirds less energy and last six to ten times longer than standard lighting.

I hope that people will take part in the ENERGY STAR Change a Light Pledge and see the difference one light can make. To sign the pledge visit, www.energystar.gov.

And its not just the federal government, we are joined by half the nation’s governors in proclaiming today, “Change a Light Day.”

And through ENERGY STAR’s voluntary partnerships – manufactures are voluntarily creating energy-efficient products, and consumers are voluntarily buying them. People understand the potential savings in these products. More than one point five billion ENERGY STAR products have been purchased to date.

The ENERGY STAR label is now on forty different kinds of major appliances, office equipment, lighting, home electronics, and more. EPA has also extended the label to cover new homes and commercial and industrial buildings.

In 2004 alone, Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy to power twenty-four million homes and avoid emissions equivalent to those from twenty million cars.

Please join me in changing a light in your home and help conserve our nation’s energy resources.